Bruce was then about to offer his present, when the ras, with an air of natural dignity, thus calmly addressed him: "Yagoube, I think that is your name, hear what I have to say to you, and mark what I recommend to you. You are a man, I am told, who make it your business to wander in solitary places to search for trees and grass, and to sit up all night alone looking at the stars of heaven. Other countries are not like this, though this was never so bad as it is now. These wretches here are enemies to strangers; if they saw you alone in your own parlour, their first thought would be how to murder you; though they knew they were to get nothing by it, they would murder you for mere mischief." ("The devil is strong in them," exclaimed a distant voice, which appeared to be that of a priest.) "Therefore," continued the ras, "after a long conversation with your friend Aylo, I have thought that situation best which, leaving you at liberty to follow your own designs, will put your person in such safety, that you will not be troubled with monks about their religious matters, or in danger from these rascals that may seek to murder you for money." "What are the monks?" muttered the voice from the same corner of the room; "the monks will never meddle with such a man as this." "Therefore the king," continued the ras, without taking any notice of the interruption, "has appointed you Baalomaal, and commander of the Koccob horse. Go, then, to the king, and kiss the ground upon your appointment: I see you have already learned this ceremony of ours; Aylo and Heikel are very proper persons to go with you." After taking leave of the ras, Bruce had a short private interview with the beautiful Ozoro Esther, whose young heart was overflowing with gratitude to the man who had saved her child. He then proceeded towards the king's palace, and met Aylo at the door of the presence-chamber. Tecla Mariam, the king's secretary, walked before them to the foot of the throne, and, after Bruce had advanced and prostrated himself upon the ground, he said, facetiously, "I have brought you a servant from so distant a country, that, if you ever let him escape, we shall never be able to follow him, or know where to seek him." The king was sitting in an alcove; his mouth, according to the custom of Abyssinia, was covered; he evinced no alteration of countenance, and made no reply. The old questions were then put to Bruce about Jerusalem and the holy places: where his country was--(they knew the situation of no country but their own)--why he came so far; whether the moon and the stars were the same in his country as in theirs, &c., &c.